CamdenTownJohn - Weekly Personal Chart 1974-1981

From 1974 to 1981 I compiled my personal Top 30 (Top 40 from Feb 1975) - my 14th birthday was in October 1974. These charts show my changing taste from chart pop to soft-rock to punk and post-punk. Throughout the series (and especially after the opening few weeks), there are many records which never made the national Top 50.

I've never thought these would be of interest to anyone but me, but I've been asked to post them, which I'm happy to do, so here's the first batch...

MyFriendJack, I was just putting in records I liked, the chart I would have like to see, but also trying to keep "ahead" of the BBC chart. I couldn't buy that many records, I bought Slade 'The Banging Man' and I got the Arrows record for my birthday but if anything I was buying less records than in 1972 and 1973.

I was really only listening to Capital and Radio Luxembourg then, and Radio One's 'Round Table' new release programme. I wasn't yet listening to rock programmes on Capital and Radio One, so the records I heard were quite limited. I sometimes listened to the Dutch pop stations RNI and Veronica until they closed at the end of August, but I wasn't yet listening to Radio Caroline which was playing rock and soul albums by then.

Excellent charts! From what i saw on your Capital Countdown thread i can predict that the things would become even better as punk/new wave era is approached. I'm familiar with most of the songs which reached UK Top 40 at the time. The rest songs are absolutely unknown to me.Wish 10cc would reached higher places. It's my favourite pop band of that period.

Although it was always UK Top 30 at that time: Radio One, Radio Luxembourg, Top of the Pops, NME, Melody Maker, the daily newspapers and all the national sources used Top 30 charts, while of course the full official chart was Top 50, so no-one talked about the UK Top 40. Which is why my chart was a Top 30 as well.

Slade were trying out some different styles now. 'In For A Penny' from 1975 is one of my favourites, and possibly the only Slade record my wife likes. And when Noel Gallagher went on GLR radio in the 90s and picked out 'How Does It Feel' as a great Slade song, rather than one of the more famous hits, I knew he was a proper Slade fan. The first two albums I ever bought were the 'Sladest' compilation and their next LP 'Old New Borrowed And Blue' which has got some memorable melodic songs.

I hope Queen will top the chart.I'm glad to find Eric Clapton in your chart. "Willie And The Hand Jive" is a very nice track from "461 Ocean Boulevard" (one of my favourite on the album, which is great in fact).

That Queen record felt like a breath of fresh air at the time, it didn't sound like anything else.I think the Eric Clapton track was a cover version. We assumed at the time that the title referred to a personal sexual act, but I don't know whether this is true. When 'I Shot The Sheriff' got in the chart, I tried to do a list of which artists were having their first hit, and I thought this might include Eric Clapton, so my knowledge of past rock music was a bit lacking at that point.